UH's fans in Boise are still cheering

Congratulations, Hawaii! Even though I have been a Boise State fan for many years, I couldn't stop cheering for the Warriors in their win against Washington Saturday. What a great day for Hawaii, Colt Brennan and the rest of the Warriors and for the WAC conference. For the second year the WAC has produced a quality team for the nation to see. Good luck in your bowl game! Go Warriors!

Sandra Lodge
Boise, Idaho

UH victory made birthday extra special

Mahalo to Coach June Jones, his assistants and all the University of Hawaii Warriors. Dec. 1 -- the day Hawaii beat Washington -- was my 61st birthday and, as a Honolulu Police Department retiree and a kamaaina living on the mainland, what a treat and special day it was for me. I am sure you've heard all the wonderful words and I won't be redundant here, just go forth and "geev'um" at what ever Bowl Championship Series game you are awarded.

Jim Duff
Walla Walla, Wash.

Hawaii is the best -- end of story

I write this as a '71 Ohio State alumnus and a lifelong fan of our great tradition. There should not be all this clamoring about who is going to play Ohio State. The clamoring should be about who is going to play Hawaii. It is the best team in the country and Colt Brennan should be awarded the Heisman. How's that for an opinion from Ohio!

Ken DePaola
Sandusky, Ohio

First, enforce the laws on Hawaiian lands

Sen. Daniel Akaka and Congressman Neil Abercrombie end their defense against George Will's indictment of "the ethnic grievance industry" with the following sentences:

"We are taken aback that a nationally syndicated columnist did not make a greater attempt to understand the true history of Hawaii. We, the people of Hawaii, can speak to our history and our values on our own" (Star-Bulletin, Insight section, Dec. 2).

Where exists "the true history of Hawaii," especially regarding the transformation of indigenousness to constitutional monarchy? Do the people of Hawaii have special history and values that allow them to create extraordinary history?

The ethnic grievance industry is like any other industry: extract a natural resource, manufacture the resource into commodities, distribute those commodities and exchange those commodities for a fair profit. When indigenousness Hawaiian is finally extracted from the senator's and congressman's true history, who will profit the most? Hawaiians, part-Hawaiians, or one-drop Hawaiians?

Addressing the issue of justice for Hawaiians does not require the fabrication of history and a governing entity. Instead, the state and federal governments should enforce the laws that currently exist concerning Hawaiian home lands and Hawaiian ceded lands.

Leonard Wilson
Kailua

Many factors affected cruelty case outcome

I am writing to correct several statements in the Nov. 21 letter by Kauai Humane Society Executive Director Rebecca Rhoades, regarding the case in which 25 charges of animal cruelty against Lucy Kagan were dismissed by the court.

First, Rhoades says "the Hawaiian Humane Society filed charges against breeder Lucy Kagan expeditiously." It was the prosecutor's office that filed the charges and not the Humane Society. The prosecutor's office first filed the charges on Feb. 24, 2005, which was 652 days after the date of the alleged offense, which was May 7, 2003. An amended complaint was filed on May 26, 2005.

Second, Rhoades intimates that the judge favors the defendant when she says, "Oahu courts granted Kagan every trial delay she asked for, which spanned more than two years." In fact, Kagan's attorneys filed motions to continue only after the prosecutor took more than two years to file the complaint. Kagan's attorneys also filed two motions to dismiss for pre-complaint delay.

The first motion to dismiss filed on March 20, 2006, was denied by the judge. The second motion to dismiss filed on Nov. 2, 2007, was granted by the same judge because the defense in this second motion was able to show with more specificity how the defendant's right to a fair trial was substantially prejudiced by the considerable delay.

Marsha Kitagawa
Public affairs officer
Hawaii State Judiciary

Coordinated effort helped get DOE funds

I would like to thank the Star-Bulletin for the Nov. 13 story about the Department of Education receiving an additional $27.8 million in federal impact aid. This effort took many months of hard work by everyone involved.

This year, the DOE will receive an additional $4.9 million. All told, over the past five years, the Hawaii DOE secured an additional $27.8 million because of our coordinated effort.

Although I found this provision in federal law five years ago and coordinated this unique partnership, it was the support of our military partners and the close relationship between the DOE and the military that made these additional funds possible.

To secure the funds, we had to document military housing units that were vacant because of necessary and major renovations. Our military housing partners assisted in this effort.

Although too numerous to mention, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to a few military housing personnel who made this all possible: Gail Hamada, Glenda Simmons, Darryl Nii, Cheryl Alakai, Mari Lynn Di Lullo and Frank Leong.

I would also like to thank the U.S. Army Pacific and especially William Hollingsworth and Jason Tamura, who all assisted us with the gathering of the Army housing information.

Hawaii is grateful to have such a special relationship with our military. It is true -- together, we can do much.

Rep. K. Mark Takai
D, Aiea-Pearl City

Beware feeling entitled to Iraqi oil

In a Nov. 30 letter, Mikio Izuka wrote, "America, in a time of oil shortage, Iraq is our potential gold mine." Unfortunately, there are many in our country who buy into the "oil in Iraq is ours" theory. If Iraq had attacked the United States, as the spoils of a just war, that might be plausible.

Nearly 4,000 U.S. troops and, by some accounts, more than a million Iraqis have died in President Bush's quest to capture an oil production-sharing accord with the Iraqi government under the guise of spreading democracy and fighting terrorism. To ensure the Iraqi Parliament passes a law that provides long-term profits for U.S. oil companies, Bush is keeping the troops there.

This reasoning produces policies that say, in effect, "It's in our national interest to use force to take Iraq's oil because we don't have as much as we want, at the price we want."

Using that same thought process, can someone waiting at a bus stop reason that it's in his best interest to take your car, or a homeless person to take your house?

Smoky Guerrero
Mililani

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